Get a good look at candidates in Fall River's mayoral race

With the Fall River municipal ballot set, the only September preliminary election will be for the mayor’s office. Two-term incumbent Will Flanagan faces a field of five challengers. Here’s a quick look at the candidates as the city’s election season begins.

With the Fall River municipal ballot set, the only September preliminary election will be for the mayor’s office. Two-term incumbent Will Flanagan faces a field of five challengers. Here’s a quick look at the candidates as the city’s election season begins.

Joseph Carvalho

A first-time candidate, Joseph Carvalho is known from his days as an anti-LNG activist. He headed up the Coalition for Responsible Siting of LNG Facilities.

Carvalho said he is making his bid for mayor because the city desperately needs a change in leadership, citing among a number of reasons the amount of patronage jobs in the city during the current administration and the removal of competent board members because they weren’t influenced by political interference.

“We need to take away from the vested special interest and give it back to regular folks,” said Carvalho, who works in military veterans’ support at Bristol Community College and is the vice president of the Flint Neighborhood Association.

If elected mayor, Carvalho said he would forge a relationship with the City Council, unlike the adversarial approach by the Flanagan administration.

There is an inherent lack of transparency in the Flanagan administration, Carvalho said, and he said he listens to people in the city and that “too many people feel they aren’t in touch with the sixth-floor” at Government Center.

“People don’t feel they make a difference,” Carvalho said. “The first thing I’m going to do if elected is remove that locked door to the mayor’s office. It’s never been there before, and that door goes.”

Carvalho said he would also become more aggressive with luring the top Fortune 500 companies to Fall River and rebrand the city. He said he would involve the local educational institutions to provide needed job skills to the unemployed to have a workforce that will attract industries.

Joao Costa

More jobs and fairer treatment to citizens in different parts of the city are two reasons why Joao Costa said he wants to run for mayor.

“I want to make things better. The mayor now treats neighborhoods differently, and I think all neighborhoods should be treated the same,” Costa said.

Born in the Azores and immigrating to Fall River in 1975, Costa works for a national company that provides oxygen services to patients.

He said he’s not had too much time to hit the campaign trail because his job is in a busy period, but when he gets going, he said he won’t be asking for any donations.

“I don’t want to be a burden, they’re being punished enough with taxes,” Costa said. “I want to be here for the working people so I will do it all myself.”

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Mayor Will Flanagan

Running for a third term as the city’s top leader, Mayor Will Flanagan said during his tenure, there have been many improvements in Fall River since he took office in 2010.

When he first took office, Flanagan said the city unemployment rate, consistently one of the commonwealth’s highest, was 19 percent, and today it has decreased to 12 percent.

In 2009, the Fall River Police Department staffing was as low as 190 police officers, and most recently that number hit 225 police staff. And the fire department was also understaffed at the time. It is now at full complement, Flanagan said.

When he took over as mayor, Flanagan said the state was eyeing taking over the school department because of poor student performance, and the Department of Revenue was contemplating placing the city in receivership.

Now the school department has a recovery plan, and graduation rates have increased, Flanagan said. When he took office, there were six years where audits were not complete. Today, all those audits are up to date.

“The city has made a substantial recovery, but there is still a lot of work to do with unemployment, crime and there are still children falling through the cracks,” Flanagan said. “I want to continue progress in the quality of life for our citizens.”

A lawyer and former prosecutor, Flanagan said his next effort is to make a huge dent in what he called the city’s drug epidemic, and he said he plans to convene a forum in the fall for a serious conversation about how to battle the issue in the city.

“I seek to build upon what we’ve accomplished over the last 3½ years,” Flanagan said. “I care about the community, and there is no other job I’d rather do.”

Flanagan said he’s out in the community every night talking with citizens, and he said he looks forward to the city primary election on Sept. 10.

William Grinvalsky

Candidate William Grinvalsky said he’s running because there is corruption in Government Center and declined further comment.

Mike Raposa

Michael Raposa is taking a second stab at running for mayor.

Economic development is at the top on his list of priorities, Raposa said. And he is waiting until the mayoral election to push for his goal: He recently met with management from three textile companies in Philadelphia looking to expand, according to Raposa.

Workers in Fall River have the ability to create a better product, and Raposa said he communicated that to the companies.

“I want to get jobs here,” Raposa said. “I’m not looking to steal jobs from other Americans, I just want them to expand here.”

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In an earlier interview with The Herald News, Raposa said he also has the ability to bring more business enterprises to Fall River and has reached out to companies such as Facebook and Hess about opportunities in Fall River.

A retired Army sergeant who served in the military for six years and was injured in the Gulf War, Raposa said he obtained political experience while he was a student in the state of Washington, and he was involved in campaigns and student government at Rhode Island College in Providence.

While a student leader at RIC, Raposa said he led a campaign that defeated tuition increases.

Raposa said he returned to Fall River in 2003 and has been active in politics since 2006, running for City Council, state representative and then his first run for mayor.

Richard Renzi

This will be Richard Renzi’s second bid for mayor. He ran in 2011 shortly after moving to the city.

As he speaks with residents, Renzi said he’s come to know that people are tired of poor leadership and the fact the city is drowning in debt.

Originally, said Renzi, he wasn’t going to run for mayor, opting instead to make a bid for City Council to be what he called “a watch dog and to hold the mayor accountable.”

“But then I realized they were toothless, and they’ve all let the people down,” Renzi said. “And I realized that goodness starts at the top and flows downhill. I want to change it from the top down.”

Renzi said, if elected, he’ll only serve one term, so “I won’t be campaigning my last six months.”

As mayor, Renzi said his focus will be on expenditures and unfunded liabilities and cited the leadership of Providence. He said Mayor Angel Tavares is pulling his city from the brink of economic calamity by, among other efforts, renegotiating contracts with the unions.

“We have to be realistic about our liabilities. We don’t want people to lose jobs, but we don’t want people to suffer,” Renzi said.

“The job I want to do for the city is to make a better life for people that makes it better for myself,” Renzi said.